Sir, – Pat Rabbitte, with the blessing of the Labour leadership, has accused RTÉ of acting as a "recruitment sergeant" for the far left and Sinn Féin (March 26th). It is ironic that no one could now accuse Pat Rabbitte, once a member of a party called Democratic Left, of acting as a recruitment sergeant for the near left, the middle left, the left-hand-down-a-bit left or indeed any shade of leftism whatsoever. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – If Pat Rabbitte is right in his contention that RTÉ is a “recruiting sergeant” for Sinn Féin, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and various anti-water charges activists, it is surely only a corrective to the good old days when RTÉ was stuffed to the gills with Workers’ Party and Democratic Left apparatchiks, a situation that caused neither concern nor difficulty for Mr Rabbitte. – Yours, etc,
HUGH PIERCE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.